


Java

by yuubalu



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-19
Updated: 2013-10-19
Packaged: 2017-12-29 20:54:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1009990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuubalu/pseuds/yuubalu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shaun really, REALLY, hates coffee.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Java

Shaun really hates coffee. He hates the colour of it, always has; it's like mud, the sort that gathers in puddles on London's streets and soaks through both your shoes and socks while you're trying to make your way through rush hour pedestrians. He hates how coffee takes up so much of their budget, even though the stuff they buy is dirt cheap; they can barely afford enough food as it is, living only on the money Lucy fiddled from Abstergo, so they can't afford to buy any tea either. He's outnumbered three to one, so Shaun has to live on his own personal stash that he managed to steal from a Walmart a few months back. It's PG Tips, so at least it's a familiar brand, but the taste is all weird and... _American_.

Shaun hates how coffee makes the hideout smell gritty and watery because it isn't even good quality, hates how it stains the mugs so there's always a ring of brown along the top. He hates coffee stains in general, deeper than tea stains yet somehow more grey; they always remind him of rainy afternoons and soggy cabbage. He hates how the others never wash their teaspoons properly, but put them back in the drawer like they're unused and so his tea always tastes a little like dirt. He hates how the smell lingers so long on a person even after drinking, so he knows where the others have been just by the scent they leave behind. It makes his nose tingle, makes his throat itch a little. It's like an allergy, only he's allergic to a beverage he doesn't even drink.

Shaun hates how Becca sometimes leans over him to see his work or offer help with an algorithm and positively reeks of arabica, like she's come straight from a Brazilian factory. It makes his stomach physically churn when he sees Lucy down three or four mugs of the brown stuff every morning before she can even function, thick and muddy and doubtless 75% sugar. He hates how Desmond seems to drink nothing but coffee (though he understands that the man doesn't like to sleep. He does enough laying down in his everyday life that he's probably sick of not being up and about and active). He complains often enough that the other man could just drink Red Bull, but his suggestions are always met with a chuckle; Shaun can't be too annoyed by that, because Desmond tried once and everything was fine until Rebecca got her hands on the concentrated caffeine. He will (willingly, or at least without complaining too vocally) put up with the coffee as long as there isn't a repeat of that disaster.

Shaun hates how the others have 'coffee talks', like a group of old women who get together on Tuesday nights to play bingo, only they're Assassins and they're wasting their time talking about the weather and the state of US economics. He can't join in, even if he wanted to, because the smell of coffee is so rich in the air that even entering the small kitchen is a feat of pure willpower. Besides, if Shaun's truly honest, he couldn't care less about what they chatter on about anyway (though it'd probably be nice to 'hang out' once in a while...)

Shaun especially hates the way Desmond tastes when he kisses him. It's a taste that sends shivers up his spine and has nothing at all, nothing, to do with the fact that it's Desmond. He hates the way the other man's breath smells when it ghosts over his lips, hates the fact that he has to explore all corners of Desmond's mouth with his tongue until the taste of coffee is gone. He hates that Desmond always writhes beneath him when he pins him to the bed and sets about ridding him of coffee; it makes for difficult work when the friction sometimes gets too much and Shaun gets sidetracked from the job at hand.

He hates that Desmond and coffee turn him on so much, but most of all he hates that Desmond knows and that's why he drinks it.


End file.
